Chapter Thirteen

1–14. A symbolic depiction of God’s judgment against the Jews who persist in ungodliness. 15–27. A final exhortation.

Jer 13:1-11. The prophet receives from God a command to continually wear a linen sash on his body. This is a symbol of Israel and Judah, whom the Lord drew exceedingly close to Himself. The prophet did not place this sash in water so as not to spoil it—just as Jehovah did not allow His people to be plunged into the realm of idolatry. But at last the prophet receives from God a command to take the sash to a river, bearing the name of the great Mesopotamian river Euphrates, and place it there in such a way that water could dampen it but it would not be carried away by the waters from its place. As a result the sash was spoiled. Likewise the people of Judah, separated by captivity from God, will ultimately be spoiled (though this does not exclude the salvation of a remnant).

Jeremiah 13:4. Take the sash that you have bought, which is upon your waist, and go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of a rock. “To the Euphrates.” Since the fate of the sash had to be verifiable by those who wished to do so, one cannot suppose that reference is being made to the distant Mesopotamian river here. Most likely this passage speaks of Wadi Farah—a stream that flowed not far from Anathoth (cf. Josh 18:23). But doubtless this stream was chosen for the symbolic action because of its assonance with the name of the river near which the exiled Hebrews were soon to live.

Jeremiah 13:10. This wicked people, which will not hear the words of My mouth, which walks in the stubbornness of their own heart and goes after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this sash, which is good for nothing. The majority of the Jewish prisoners will not only gain no benefit from their captivity—that is, will not repent—but on the contrary will perish there completely and will forget about the great purposes that the Jewish people had formerly intended to accomplish. Jer 13:12-14. To the symbolic action is joined a thought expressed in figurative language. Every vessel is filled with what it is designed for. But the inhabitants of Jerusalem, by their bent, can be determined for nothing other than to receive God’s wrath; as a result they will lose their reason and themselves hasten to meet destruction, which is expressed figuratively as the breaking of vessels.

Jeremiah 13:12. Therefore say to them this word: Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: Every wine skin is filled with wine. When they say to you, “Do we not certainly know that every wine skin is filled with wine?”— A “wine skin,” from the Hebrew nevel, can mean either a vessel for liquids, especially for wine.

Jeremiah 13:13. But say to them: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings sitting on the throne of David, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness from wine. The vessels of which the prophet speaks here are first of all individual members of the people, and in particular its rulers. The wine which intoxicates them is the wine of God’s wrath (see Jer 25:15). By kings not only the king himself is meant, but also his relatives who participated in state affairs (see Jer 21:11 and following). Jer 13:15-27. In his final exhortation the prophet indicates that repentance is still possible. If the Jews still do not take this to heart and fulfill it, then the prophet will have nothing left but to lament in solitude the approaching ruin of the Judean state. Let the king and queen then repent—they have many sins. But the Jews stubbornly refuse to turn to the true path, and the prophet is left only to point out the cause of Jerusalem’s fall—namely, the sinfulness of its inhabitants, which has become their second nature.

Jeremiah 13:16. Give glory to the Lord your God before He brings darkness, and before your feet stumble on the mountains of gloom; you wait for light, but He will turn it into deep darkness and make it into thick darkness. To give glory to God, according to the prophet’s thought, means not only to praise God, but also to confess one’s wrongdoings before Him and turn from evil deeds (cf. Mal 2:2). Darkness and gloom—that is, sudden nightfall—greatly frightens the traveler in the Judean mountains, where he can easily fall and be hurt.

Jeremiah 13:18. Say to the king and to the queen: Humble yourselves, sit down lower, for the crown of your glory has fallen from your head. Queen—an official title for the queen mother (1 Sam 15:13; 2 Sam 10:13), who held the second place at court after the king himself (cf. 1 Sam 2:19), which given the polygamy of that time is quite understandable. Most likely the prophet means here the mother of King Jeconiah, who shared the sad fate of her son (cf. Jer 22:26). Jeconiah was only 18 years old, or according to the book of Chronicles (2 Chr 36:9 according to the Hebrew text) only 8 years old when he ascended the throne, and so his mother’s participation in state affairs was necessary.

Jeremiah 13:19. The southern cities are locked up, and there is no one to open them; all Judah is carried away into captivity, completely carried away into captivity. “The southern cities are locked up”—that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem can no longer escape there if they wished. The Judean cities to the south of Jerusalem, therefore, were the first to be attacked by enemies and cut off from the capital.

Jeremiah 13:20. Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north: where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock? The “flock” that was entrusted to Jerusalem to pasture—these are the very southern Judean cities already captured by enemies.

Jeremiah 13:21. What will you say, daughter of Zion, when He visits you? You yourself have taught them to rule over you; will not pangs seize you like a woman in labor? “Them,” that is, of course, the Babylonians, with whom King Hezekiah even wanted to establish friendly relations (2 Sam 20).

Jeremiah 13:22. And if you say in your heart, “For what reason has this befallen me?”—For the multitude of your sins your skirts are uncovered, your heels are made bare. Jerusalem is depicted under the image of a noble woman who, naturally, wore a long garment, and whose garment was suddenly lifted up.

Jeremiah 13:23. Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard his spots? So can you do good, accustomed as you are to doing evil? A leopard with spots still lives even now in Palestine, on the mountains of Lebanon. Can you?—Sin takes such hold of a person that it becomes a necessity for him, as it were his second nature.

Jeremiah 13:27. I have seen your adulteries and your raging lusts, your abominable deeds on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be cleansed even after this. How long will it be? “Adulteries”—that is, idolatry, which was accompanied by actual obscene conduct. Special Remarks. Under which king was this speech delivered—under Jehoiakim or under Jeconiah? In the explanation of verse 18 it was already said that it is most natural to suppose the prophet made mention of the queen mother when addressing the young Jeconiah. Now we add that King Jehoiakim was a man of very independent character and he would hardly have decided matters according to the advice of his mother. Therefore it is most probable that the speech of Chapter 13 was delivered during the three-month reign of King Jeconiah.